Authorities in Florida have charged a 42-year-old man with making a false threat against an AirTran Airways flight bound for Atlanta.
Atlanta television station WSB reported that Jerry Williams of Auburndale, Fla., was arrested in Orlando on a charge of calling in a false threat.
The Orlando Police Department referred media calls to the FBI, which is handling the case. FBI officials in Tampa did not return a phone call.
Flight 856 from Orlando was about 20 minutes outside Atlanta on Monday when authorities alerted AirTran officials that a man had made a nonspecific threat against the flight, AirTran Vice President of Marketing Tad Hutcheson said Tuesday.
Hutcheson said the man, using an airport courtesy phone, claimed his wife was on board and made a threat against the flight.
AirTran officials radioed the Boeing 717, which landed in a remote area at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Hutcheson said. Officers from the Atlanta Police Department and the Transportation Security Administration went to the aircraft and searched it.
Passengers disembarked through air stairs and were taken on buses to Concourse E, where TSA workers re-screened them by hand as a precaution.
Hutcheson said the woman - identified by the caller as his wife - told authorities she was his ex-girlfriend. He said she was allowed to travel on to Philadelphia, where she lives.
The plane, carrying 98 passengers and five crew members, left Orlando at 7:05 p.m. Monday and landed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at 8:20 p.m.
Hutcheson said the flight ordinarily takes about one hour.
He apologized to passengers who were delayed at Hartsfield about 90 minutes because of the threat and re-screening, but said officials have to take such precautions when there's a threat against an aircraft.
"Safety is our top priority," he said.
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June 13th, 2025
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